WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A senior fellow at the Brookings Institution will lead an interagency policy review of U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, the White House said Tuesday.
Bruce Riedel will be the committee chair, while co-chairs will be Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Michelle Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said during a news briefing.
Riedel will work at the White House for 60 days while he is on leave at the institute's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Gibbs said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Holbrooke's responsibilities is to coordinate among all U.S. government agencies involved in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Riedel would overseeing the review of U.S. policy.
"Ambassador Holbrooke will be coordinating amongst all the U.S. government agencies involved" various aspects of U.S. involvement in the two countries, Wood said. "And he will be helping to shape our overall policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Gibbs said the review is to completed before the NATO summit in April.
